Written Answers Wednesday 21 February 2007

Scottish Executive

Alcohol Misuse

Bill Aitken (Glasgow) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive why no prosecutions resulted from the pilot scheme carried out by Fife Constabulary in connection with the test purchasing of alcohol.

Elish Angiolini QC: The test purchasing pilot scheme carried out by Fife Constabulary is tackling the sale of alcohol to children under 18 in a variety of ways:

  Advising licensees about ways to ensure compliance

  Targeting premises that sell alcohol to children

  Reporting all breaches to the Licensing Board

  Prosecuting where appropriate.

  To date there have been two successful prosecutions and there are a further two cases under consideration for prosecution. Five licensed premises have had their licences suspended for periods of from three to six months.

  The arrangements for the pilot put considerable emphasis on educating licence holders, and on monitoring premises where an initial failure has been detected.

Employment

Marlyn Glen (North East Scotland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the overall change has been in the number of employee jobs since 2003 in the (a) Angus, (b) Gordon, (c) West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine and (d) Banff and Buchan parliamentary constituencies.

Nicol Stephen: The following table shows the number of employee jobs in 2003 and 2005 (latest data) and also the net change in levels of employee jobs between 2003 and 2005 for the Angus, Gordon, West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine and Banff and Buchan parliamentary constituencies.

  Table 1 Employee Jobs in 2003 and 2005 for Selected Parliamentary Constituencies and the Change in Employee Jobs Between 2003 and 2005

  

 
2003
2005
Change between 2003 and 2005


Angus
28,700
29,500
800


Banff and Buchan
30,700
31,200
600


Gordon
54,200
57,600
3,500


West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine
28,700
27,800
-900



  Source: Annual Business Inquiry.Notes:

  1. Figures have been rounded to the nearest hundred.

  2. These figures are aggregates but do not include agriculture class 0100 (1992 SIC). The Scottish Executive is currently working on agricultural data at parliamentary constituency level as noted in the answer to question S2W-31371 by Ross Finnie on 5 February 2007.

  3. These statistics are work place based.

  4. Parliamentary constituencies based on 2005 revision.

Energy Efficiency

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how much it has paid out under the Central Energy Efficiency Fund.

Nicol Stephen: The Scottish Executive has paid out £17.68 million under the Central Energy Efficiency Fund to date.

Health

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has considered introducing clearer and simpler advice and labelling in respect of the number of units of alcohol in any given product or measure.

Lewis Macdonald: We are participating in work led by the UK Department of Health, to agree voluntary UK-wide unit labelling and sensible drinking messages with the alcohol industry. These will be included on alcohol packaging, in point of sale material and in advertising.

Microsoft Government Leaders Forum

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answers to questions S2W-31212 and S2W-31358 by Cathy Jamieson on 5 February 2007, what specific resources were deployed by Lothian and Borders Police to cover the Microsoft Government Leaders Forum Europe and how these compare with the standard daily deployment of resources to the Parliament.

Cathy Jamieson: This information is not held centrally and is an operational matter for the Chief Constable of Lothian and Borders Police.

Ministerial Responsibilities

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive on how many occasions in each year since 1999 a minister has had duties removed to avoid a potential conflict of interest.

Mr Tom McCabe: There has been one instance, at the outset of devolution in May 1999, of a minister informing officials of a personal interest that led to those ministerial responsibilities being reviewed to avert any potential conflict of interests.

Scottish Natural Heritage

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what forestry grants have been paid to Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) in each year since its inception and, in particular, in respect of its forestry in Rum, and what grants SNH is seeking for its future operations in Rum.

Sarah Boyack: Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) received the following payments of forestry grants between 1994 and 2007. Of those, during the period 2003-07, £5,643 were in respect of its woodland management on Rum.

  Any future grant applications for Rum are dependant on the outcome of the review of SNH’s National Nature Reserve plan.

  Forestry Grants Paid to Scottish Natural Heritage

  

1994-95
£3,261


1995-96
£1,052.50


1996-97
£1,657.30


1997-98
£2,633.75


1998-99
£1,341.25


1999-00
£3,946.30


2000-01
£4,747.69


2001-02
£40,989.74


2002-03
£6,941.78


2003-04
£542.50


2004-05
£38,528.02


2005-06
£25,481


2006-07
£33,909.59


Total grants paid
£165,032.42

Wildlife

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the estimated annual population of deer on Rum was in each year since the herd was introduced and, of these, how many were culled annually.

Sarah Boyack: Scottish Natural Heritage has recorded the estimated deer population and cull numbers since its inception as follows:

  

Year
Deer Count
Total Deer Culled


1991
1,649
434


1992
1,438
308


1993
1,262
113


1994
1,185
172


1995
Abandoned due to weather
196


1996
1,483
280


1997
1,408
245


1998
1,527
255


1999
1,432
256


2000
1,341
249


2001
1,103
444


2002
990
406


2003
No count done
190


2004
1,269
237


2005
1,234
445


2006
1,160
141